15th nov 1969 existing tv

[jonny]

posted b4 prob but does any1 know if all &/or what material still exists from first day of colour tv on itv & bbc 1. the basic programme list for that day is here of course;
www.tvhistory.btinternet.co.uk/html/body_itv_colour.html

[lpmoderator]

You don't have a mobile in your hand now, Jonny! You can WRITE PROPERLY now - no limits on number of characters / digits used here (and we might be able to understand you better as well...) Sheesh!

[William Martin]

try UzN dis 2 transl8 txt N2 plain en
lingo2word.com/translate.php

considA yrslf wel n truly tld off jonny

just glancing at the list apart from the film and film series and please sir I don't think any programs or continuity exist not even frost . I'm sure someone will know about the please sir episode.

[lpmoderator]

Apart from the filmed series and cinema movies (obviously), what definitely survive of the studio programmes from that day are: Please Sir, Parkin's Patch, I think the Sat Night Theatre does (being Yorkshire) and possibly the Braden's Week (many of which survive although not all) and (I think) Saturday Crowd. Not sure about the Match Of The Day, language programmes or Petula Clark concert. Probably not the Frost show though. I expect Andrew Martin can fill in the gaps in my BBC knowledge. Are you reading, Andrew?

[Andy Howells]

I doubt anyone would have had the foresite to record the continuity or that the BBC or ITV treat it as a major event (early showings of Charlie Chaplin and Casey Jones indicate this).

Colour programming is mentioned in that weeks Radio Times (worth tracking down and reading) but I think it also points out that the transition to colour wouldnt be with immediate effect actross the entire country (some areas I think didnt get colour until 1971).

Some programmes as well had already been transmitting in colour in the London area over the previous few years and a September copy of Radio Times from 1969 has a list for colour test transmissions which went out during the week (such as shows like Dad's Army which had just started recording in colour).

[eric lawton]

Colour programming is mentioned in that weeks Radio Times (worth tracking down and reading) but I think it also points out that the transition to colour wouldnt be with immediate effect actross the entire country (some areas I think didnt get colour until 1971).

Yup, 1971 is right. I remember in our area, colour tv came in the week before Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley in the F A Cup final. So, for our household, that would have been early May 1971. I remember as a 10 year old kid, the thrill of watching that match in colour. ( A 22 inch PYE, if my memory serves me right )

[Peter Elliott]

andyhowells said:

Some programmes as well had already been transmitting in colour in the London area over the previous few years and a September copy of Radio Times from 1969 has a list for colour test transmissions which went out during the week (such as shows like Dad's Army which had just started recording in colour).

I always found it interesting that "Dads Army" was being recorded in colour months before the switchover to colour TV. The first seven episodes of series 3 were taped between May and July 1969, yet the rest were taped one week before transmission during October to December 1969.

The first episode to be broadcast officially in Colour would had been "Branded" on 20th November.

The big question is - not meant as a threadcrap btw - was "Room At The Bottom" the sole b+w t/r episode ever actually broadcast in Colour? That was broadcast originally on 16th October 1969 (taped on 29th June). I would guess that the 3rd series was repeated in 1970 enabling the earlier episodes to be seen in colour for the first time.

[Peter Elliott]

Re : Bradens Week

There is only a handful of shows left from 1968 and 1969 and all are in black and white... some on videotape as well. I'm pretty certain the first colour edition doesn't exist but a black and white copy of the second has and was featured in last years BBC Archive trial. The trial also featured a 1968 episode in which Jake sang an amusing ditty about Miss World and had Esther Rantzen recalling an audition for being a call girl! Most enjoyable but sadly I never got to see the 1969 show.

As a Jake Thackray fan I only have details of existing episodes in which he appeared and he was not in the surviving 1969 show I just mentioned since that featured a song by Alex Glasgow.

I also looked into these shows on Infax when that was accessible and remember being shocked at how little was left from 68 and 69. I stand to be corrected but I think my memory is reasonably accurate on this. I'm also fairly certain no Bradens have survived from 1970 but there are quite a few from late 1971 and early 1972 existing in colour.

[eric lawton]

Yesterday at 9:48pm, andyhowells wrote:
Some programmes as well had already been transmitting in colour in the London area over the previous few years and a September copy of Radio Times from 1969 has a list for colour test transmissions which went out during the week (such as shows like Dad's Army which had just started recording in colour).


Whats the full story behind the UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS Black and white episodes. We have the excellent box set, yet chronologically, it seems the story order runs colour, black and white, colour.
The very first episode that I saw was certainly colour, dont ever remember seeing the black and white eps.
Im sure someone will tell me !!

[lpmoderator]

There was a the ITV colour strike at that time, affecting most ITV shows late '70 / early '71. The first ep was shot in b/w but re-made later for sales purposes (with the other few b/w eps being left out of the sales package, as they were not re-made). That's why it goed from colour to b/w and back. The original b/w first ep no longer exists though, as far as I know.

[lpmoderator]

peterelliott said:

andyhowells said:

Some programmes as well had already been transmitting in colour in the London area over the previous few years and a September copy of Radio Times from 1969 has a list for colour test transmissions which went out during the week (such as shows like Dad's Army which had just started recording in colour).

I always found it interesting that "Dads Army" was being recorded in colour months before the switchover to colour TV. The first seven episodes of series 3 were taped between May and July 1969, yet the rest were taped one week before transmission during October to December 1969.

The first episode to be broadcast officially in Colour would had been "Branded" on 20th November.

TV was being made in colour by all the main companies well before 15/11/69 and it was really a gradual step-up in the amount of colour productions made rather than a sudden switch. Apart from film series (which were regularly made in colour by ITC from 1964) and one-off studio productions (as made by Rediffusion / ATV / ABC etc. in 1965 - '69 with eps of Half Hour Story, Love Story, Frontier, The Palladium and Hippodrome shows, single plays, the final Brighton Public Eye episode, the latter being probably one of the first to be made on 625 line colour as opposed to 405 / 525). BBC-2 went over officially to a limited number of programmes in colour on 1/7/67, although Late Night Line-Up was the first "officially acknowledged" proper programme to go out in this way (20/4/67).

Probably to get ahead and create a cache of available stuff, ITV and BBC-1 went over to regular colour production earlier in 1969 and a lot of new peak time shows that were due to begin late summer onwards were made in anticipation, although these were not seen in colour until repeats a bit later (e.g. Monty Python series 1, Dad's Army series 3, Please Sir series 2, Doctor In The House series 1 etc.); I expect some of these got an unofficial showing in colour though during the 625 line tests for ITV / BBC-1 during the Autumn. Although this is not to say that everything was made in colour that was anticipated to be screened after the official start date.

[eric lawton]

Re: 15th nov 1969 existing tv
« Reply #10 on Today at 2:58pm »

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There was a the ITV colour strike at that time, affecting most ITV shows late '70 / early '71. The first ep was shot in b/w but re-made later for sales purposes (with the other few b/w eps being left out of the sales package, as they were not re-made). That's why it goed from colour to b/w and back. The original b/w first ep no longer exists though, as far as I know.


That makes sense, Thanks for that. I do feel the storylines / plots of the B&W episodes are not as strong as the colour.
As so many folk have said on this site, about so many programmes though........I wonder if that first episode is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.
Theres been talk of a re-make for a while now, but that is one series that could never be equalled.
" RUBY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

[Andy Howells]

author=peterelliott board=general thread=1205725131 post=1205847157The big question is - not meant as a threadcrap btw - was "Room At The Bottom" the sole b+w t/r episode ever actually broadcast in Colour? That was broadcast originally on 16th October 1969 (taped on 29th June). I would guess that the 3rd series was repeated in 1970 enabling the earlier episodes to be seen in colour for the first time.

Room at the Bottom did get a repeat on 9 May 1970, presumably, again in colour, and before Black and White copies were sold overseas.

I imagine this episode had a slightly larger colour audience on its repeat run, but sadly this was probably many peoples only chance to ever see it in colour.

[Peter Elliott]

andyhowells said:

Room at the Bottom did get a repeat on 9 May 1970, presumably, again in colour, and before Black and White copies were sold overseas.

I imagine this episode had a slightly larger colour audience on its repeat run, but sadly this was probably many peoples only chance to ever see it in colour.

Thanks for this info - much appreciated. Given the amount of colour TV sets at that time and the fact it was still unavailable in various areas then it's fair to say that very very few were lucky enough to see that episode in its native colour. Thank goodness b+w t/r's were made and the VidFired version on the Series 3 DVD looks stunning - virtually like watching a black and white v/t!